Minister killed in Ivory Coast clashes

Ivory Coast's interior minister Emile Boga Doudou was among the casualties today in an attempted armed coup in the west African country.

Heavily armed forces attacked government and security installations in Ivory Coast's capital, Abidjan, and other cities today in an uprising apparently involving the country's armed forces.

Police and military officers said Ivory Coast's deposed military leader, General Robert Guei, was also killed in the chaos - although it was unclear what role, if any, he was playing.

The uprising came with President Laurent Gbagbo out of the country, on a state visit to Italy. President Gbagbo's government has been struggling to calm lingering ethnic and political tension and a restive military since the country's first-ever coup, in 1999.

Allan Toussaint, an aide to President Laurent Gbagbo, confirmed Mr Doudou's death. Mr Toussaint, speaking in Rome, where the president is on a state visit, said that President Gbagbo was continuing with his visit to Italy and a meeting tomorrow with Pope John Paul II would go ahead as planned. Mr Gbagbo cancelled a morning meeting with the speaker of Italy's chamber of deputies today.

In central Abidjan, loyalist paramilitary police opened fire on General Guei's vehicle when the driver refused to stop at a checkpoint, Sgt Ahossi Aime said. Mr Guei died at the scene, he said.

Early reports indicated a mutiny by 700 to 800 soldiers, western embassy security personnel said.

The French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, told Europe-1 radio in France, Ivory Coast's former colonial ruler, that the revolt appeared to be "a mutiny by certain soldiers who were in the process of demobilising".

The uprising began early today with automatic-weapons fire erupting outside a paramilitary police base in Abidjan. About 15 gunmen broke into the compound as many more gathered outside, according to an officer speaking on condition of anonymity from inside the base.

Six paramilitary policemen were killed in the attack, he said. There was no immediate word on casualties among the attackers.

The attackers were repelled from the base several hours later, the officer said. Gunfire and repeated heavy explosions spread to other parts of the capital, including central areas and suburbs. The firing, which appeared to include mortar fire, continued long after daybreak.

A rocket hit an anti-riot police post, injuring two officers and partly destroying the building, authorities at the base said.

The firing subsided at midday, but there was no word that order had been restored. State radio and TV - whose facilities have been heavily guarded since the 1999 coup that brought Mr Guei to power - were off the air.

Authorities closed the international airport, and streets were deserted in the city. Witnesses said soldiers were shooting at motorists who approached roadblocks.

Outside Abidjan, sustained gunfire broke out in the northern city of Korhogo, a stronghold of Ivory Coast's opposition and the site of an army garrison.

Thirty youths in civilian clothes set up a barricade outside the military base there and exchanged gunfire with the soldiers trapped inside.

The attackers, who declined to identify themselves, displayed two bodies they said belonged to a civilian shot in the crossfire and a paramilitary policeman who had tried to infiltrate the group.

Unidentified gunmen also attacked an air base in the central town of Bouake and an army base in the northern town of Fereke, a senior army commander said on condition of anonymity. The military commander in Bouake was killed in the fighting, military officials said.

Another senior army official, who also wished to remain anonymous, said "still-unidentified elements" within the security forces were behind the uprising in Abidjan. He could not explain the attacks in other areas.

The insurgents were wearing a mix of jeans and fatigues, making it difficult to tell to which arm of the security forces - if any - they belonged to, the official said. Some were also wearing masks over their faces.

The US and other western embassies stayed closed and urged their nationals to stay indoors. Schools and many businesses were also closed.

Once one of west Africa's most stable and prosperous nations, Ivory Coast has seen repeated outbreaks of ethnic and political violence since the coup on December 24 1999.

Mr Guei, a former army chief, was forced out during 2000 elections meant to restore civilian rule, amid allegations that he was trying to steal the vote.

The coup ushered in continuing military uprisings, politically motivated killings and widespread attacks against Ivory Coast's Muslim minority who dominate the political opposition.

Leaders have strengthened the weaponry of police and soldiers since the takeover in a bid to enforce security and mollify security forces.